Hi everyone,
We've just published updates to our article at lupusuk.org.uk/covid19-hydr...
The highlight of this update is that RAIRDA received a response from the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, Dr Keith Ridge CBE. We are pleased to see that precautions are being taken to prevent further shortages:
“NHS England and NHS Improvement are working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care, industry and others in the supply chain to help ensure patients can access the medicines they need, including hydroxychloroquine, and precautions are in place to reduce the likelihood of any shortage…I am working closely with pharmacists and GPs to support this message and restrict prescriptions and supply to those with current clinical need for licensed indications or as part of a clinical trial.”
We have also seen further reports indicating that hydroxychloroquine is not effective to prevent or treat COVID-19;
•On 21st April Associated Press published a report on findings from a USA study involving 368 patients which indicated hydroxychloroquine did not aid recovery from the virus and may have done more harm than good. The findings so far are not rigorous and so we are awaiting results from the large, controlled trials underway across the world.
•On the 24th April the European League against Rheumatism (EULAR) published a press release regarding a study examining COVID-19 in people with SLE. EULAR Past-President Professor Johannes W. Bijlsma commented, “Our preliminary conclusion, based on the observation that most of the SLE patients in this study received long-term treatment with hydroxychloroquine, having blood concentrations of the drug within therapeutic range, is that hydroxychloroquine does not seem to prevent COVID-19, at least its severe forms, in patients with SLE.”
